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# 3 The genitive case

The genitive case has a range of uses, but to begin with, think of it as the ‘of’ case. Here are more examples, with the genitive ending highlighted:

- ἄγγελος θεοῦa messenger of god (or god’s messenger)
- φόβος θανάτουfear of death
- βουλή Ἀφροδίτῆςa plan of Aphrodite (or Aphrodite’s plan)

Note that although Greek possesses a definite article (‘the’), it has no indefinite article (‘a’ or ‘an’). This often needs to be supplied in an English translation.

- Vocabulary
- θάνατος, ὁ   death
- φόβος, ὁ     fear

Note that it is the word ending, not the order of the words, that affects the meaning. φόβος θανάτου and θανάτου φόβος mean the same thing: ‘fear of death’.

You saw earlier that in English, if the noun is plural the apostrophe and the ‘s’ swap places.

- god’s messenger (singular: one god)
- the gods’ messenger (plural: many gods)

Greek noun endings also vary according to whether they are singular or plural. The genitive plural ending of a noun always ends in -ων.

- φόβος θεῶνfear of gods

## Activity 2 Test your learning – genitive case

Allow about 5 minutes

In Greek, which noun could be expressed using a genitive case?

1. The mother of Achilles

mother
Achilles

2. The daughter of Zeus

daughter
Zeus

3. The defeat of Athens

defeat
Athens

4. Sparta’s victory

Sparta
victory

5. The gods’ quarrel

gods
quarrel
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OpenLearn - Getting started on ancient Greek
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